The Diplodocus

Where We’re Going, We Don’t Need Landlines July 12, 2006

You’ve probably had the same conversation I had last week. “It’s The Future!” someone will say, “it’s 2006 — that’s six years into The Twenty First Century! — and still, man has not invented the hoverboard. Come on, science, get with it!”

Normally I would agree. It is, definitely, The Future. But I think the obsession with things hover shows that maybe some of us have watched a certain Robert Zemeckis film a few too many times. Sure, flying cars and hoverboards are interesting looking ideas — but how are they any better than what we have now? I’ve seen real life traffic hell on three continents and contend that adding another dimension to vehicular movement is an invitation to disaster, or at the very least twelve new types of collision. And don’t get me started on hoverboards. Let’s leave technological considerations aside. At essence, the hoverboard seems like a toy for people who are simultaneously scared of the wheels on a normal skateboard and into Parkour.

Still, there’s no need to write an epitaph for The Future — despite mankind’s lack of innovation in the realm of wheel-free land vehicles, I think it is alive and well. Really, it’s the little things. Like those lightbulbs that last for like twenty years. Or, even cooler, stories like this. The circumstances are pretty dire, but the combination of capitalism and technology shows that we’re progressing, even in the worst places on Earth.